Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum, German Open

Lee Sangsu was very much the player to make a statement on German soil at the Liebherr 2017 World Championships, claiming a surprise victory over Chinese superstar Zhang Jike on his way to achieving a top four finish in Düsseldorf.

Five months on and the Korea Republic contestant has once again caused a major upset in Germany against Chinese opposition by condemning world no.4 Xu Xin to a quarter-finals defeat at the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum German Open during the evening of Saturday 11th November.

More joy for Lee Sangsu in Germany (Photo: Rémy Gros)

by Simon Daish

The 14th seeded player for the event inflicted a crushing defeat on the second seed Xu Xin without dropping a single game (11-6, 11-9, 11-4, 12-10), but despite his magnificent achievement Lee Sangsu has contrasting emotions about the result.

“I’m very happy to win, but I think he’s not playing with as much power. I think his last match with Marcos Freitas was too tiring, he won 4-3, played a lot of forehand and moved a lot, so I think this match he wasn’t in his 100%. So even though I’m very happy to win, it’s 80% happiness and 20% mixed feelings”, Lee Sangsu.

The German crowd enjoyed a fantastic evening of celebration after two of the host nation’s star players moved through to the semi-finals.

Chasing a record fifth Men’s Singles title at the German Open, Timo Boll has moved to within two victories of reaching the top step of the medals podium in Magdeburg following his fine outing against China’s Lin Gaoyuan (11-7, 11-9, 13-15, 11-7, 14-12).

Dimitrij Ovtcharov remains in the hunt to obtain a fourth Men’s Singles gold medal from this year’s ITTF World Tour following his six games win against Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting in the upper half of the quarter-finals draw.

Nothing separated the two players heading into the fifth end but then the host nation’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov took his game to another level, holding his nerve to eliminate the ninth seed in the last eight (11-1, 5-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-4, 11-3).

“I got back into the game to take the lead and actually made a good start in the fourth. But then I think he enjoyed his best period of the entire match on his side. I can’t blame myself, I played a good game as well. I just kept going and he couldn’t keep up with this level and I think that was the key to my win… I hope to have a good day tomorrow, and I have nothing to lose!”, Dimitrij Ovtcharov.

Top seed Fan Zhendong also progressed to the semi-finals, defeating Japan’s Kenta Matsudaira (11-8, 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 11-9) to set up a meeting with Ovtcharov.